From July 15th 2014 passengers from the UK and nine other countries including Germany, France and the USA – can travel visa free.
It was a double celebration for Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national carrier on June 26th when President CEO Peter Foster brought his roadshow to London with a colourful reception for over 200 guests at Hyde Park’s prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
The carrier was marking the start of direct flights from London Heathrow to Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital – three times weekly. Making it even easier for business and leisure travellers to fly with the airline too, is a relaxation on Visa requirements. From July 15th 2014 passengers from the UK and nine other countries including Germany, France and the USA – can travel visa free.
At a press briefing at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel Peter Foster highlighted how significant the capital Astana is becoming – politically and economically – explaining the prominence away from Almaty, its home base. Since June 2nd London flights are now operating Almaty-Astana-London-Astana-Almaty. The new schedules also enable passengers to connect on to Air Astana’s expanding network of services to destinations in Central Asia, the Caucasus, southern Russia and western China.
Air Astana is now planning to widen its European network with the addition of regular flights to Paris and to Prague in spring 2015, complementing established European routes from Frankfurt to Astana (daily) and Atyrau to Amsterdam, six times per week. Last week it ran its first charter to Barcelona and also accepted a brand new Boeing 767-300ER, its third of the type, believed to be the last of the type of the production line.
Air Astana is on course to carry four million passengers this year with a fleet of 31 Airbus, Boeing and Embraer aircraft, Foster said.
Photo caption (from left to right): Peter Foster, President Air Astana; Ibrahim Canliel, Senior VP Marketing and Sales Air Astana; Michael Whitehead, Regional Manager UK Air Astana
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